Effective date: July 1, 2026
Chewgather (“the app,” “we,” “us”) is a social dining app that helps you and your friends decide where to eat. This policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, and the choices you have. We keep it in plain language on purpose.
The short version: we collect only what the app needs to work, we don’t run ads, we don’t use tracking or analytics SDKs, and we never sell your information.
Account information. When you create an account we collect your name, email address, and password (stored only as a secure hash — we cannot see your password). You may optionally add a phone number and a profile photo.
Contacts (optional). If you choose to find friends from your contacts, the phone numbers from your address book are sent to our server only to check for matches against existing Chewgather accounts. Contact numbers are matched transiently and are not stored on our servers. You can use Chewgather fully without granting contacts access.
Location (optional, while using the app). If you grant location access, your device location is used to find restaurants near you via Google Places. We do not track your location in the background and we do not keep a history of your locations on our servers. You may instead enter a zip code, or decline location entirely.
Content you create. Dining plans (titles, dates, invitees, votes), favorites, RSVP responses, friend connections, and your profile photo.
Device information. A push notification token, if you enable notifications, so we can deliver invites, RSVP updates, and results.
Like nearly every app, we rely on a small set of processors to run our infrastructure. They process data on our behalf and are not permitted to use it for their own purposes:
| Provider | Purpose | What they process |
|---|---|---|
| Google Places | Restaurant search & details | Your search coordinates (not stored by us) |
| MongoDB Atlas | Database hosting | Account + app content |
| Fly.io | API server hosting | App traffic |
| Cloudinary | Profile photo storage | Your profile photo |
| Expo | Push notification delivery | Push token, notification content |
| Resend | Transactional email | Your email address (e.g., password reset) |
Chewgather is social by design: your name and profile photo are visible to other users; your plans are visible to invitees; public plans are visible to your friends in the Discover feed. You control plan visibility (private, friends-can-request, public) when creating a plan.
You can block any user (Profile → Blocked Users to manage blocks) and report any user or plan from within the app. Reports are reviewed by our team. Blocked users cannot send you friend requests or invites, and you will not see each other’s plans.
Your data is retained while your account is active. You can delete your account at any time in the app (Profile → Delete Account). Deletion is immediate and removes your account, friendships, owned plans, invitations, votes, notifications, and profile photo from our systems.
Chewgather is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us and we will delete it.
Depending on where you live, you may have rights to access, correct, delete, or export your personal information. Most of these are available directly in the app (edit profile, delete account). For anything else, contact us at the address below and we will respond within 30 days.
If we make material changes, we will update the effective date above and notify you in the app before the changes take effect.
Questions, requests, or concerns: ggronnii@gmail.com